In the realm of shark movies, I’m a big fan, you have to do something different and exciting to keep the interest of moviegoers. 47 Meters Down: Uncaged was a better than average shark movie that delivered. What is scarier than a BLIND great white shark in the dark? He’s hungry and you are in his cave with limited space and air, you are lost and can’t get out? Uh oh!
A group of prep school, mean girl teens decide to ignore the rules and go underwater cave diving for thrills in an ancient Mayan temple. Grant, played by John Corbett, is the father of Mia and stepfather to Sasha, played by Sophie Nelisse and Corrine Foxx, respectfully, is in charge of an archaeological dive site. The girls decide to skip a site seeing boat tour to go off, along with their friends, against the request of their parents. They of course get into trouble, accidentally destroying part of the underwater site and unleashing blind-from-no-light, great white sharks that proceed to hunt them in the dark. Double Uh Oh!
There is lots of screaming, as teen girls do, as they are underwater with limited air supply. They can see the sharks and there are moments where they are literally just waiting quietly as the sharks swim by in the dark. The sharks can’t see or hear them but they can smell them. It helps a bit that the water has been agitated from the sand and silt. There are tense movements as they try to escape, they actually reach the surface but are hampered by panic and inability to regain their wits. They will have to climb one at a time up a skinny rope. They are stranded in a small space and at the mercy of these great white monsters.
Sistine Stallone plays Nicole, and is very good as the most panicked girl. She is the one that prompts them to go astray in the first place then and the most desperate to get out, not a good combination. Grant is there at the initial attempt but gets “Samuel Jacksoned”, for those of you that saw Deep Blue Sea, just as they are on the verge of escape, here comes the hungry shark! CHOMP!! There are many underwater situations and some painful-to-watch death scenes but there is satisfaction when it’s over. It comes full circle at the end as they escape the caves only to come up in the middle of a chum circle for the great white site seeing tour they were supposed to be on! The above water action gives you a jolt as you think they made it through all of that to die now an arm’s length from help!
It’s a great summer movie about sharks, it does drags a little at the beginning until you get past the panic, screaming and underwater breathing into the action. The sharks are gruesome, it’s bloody and there is no mercy there. And dying after running out of air is no joke to watch but all in all it’s a good take on the shark attack storyline. And oh yeah, reminder: don’t get in the water!